The Fight for Tacoma’s Charter
As the city council calls for a special election to rewrite the municipal charter, citizens are warned to watch for corporate interests looking to hijack the reform movement.
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The question of municipal government for Tacoma is now up to the people. At its meeting last night the council agreed to call a special election to name a committee of fifteen to make a new charter. On the personnel of this committee depends the kind of charter the city will get. There seems to be a strong demand for the 'commission plan' of government. But the people should not be carried away by enthusiasm over terms. The city might get a commission plan and have the crookedest government on earth. It is up to the people now to be on guard. Already the agents of corporations and politicians who have axes to grind are taking advantage of the sentiment for the commission plan to ply their ropes to get such a commission plan as they can use. The people should at once line up and get men for candidates for this charter committee who will represent them.
“The city might get a commission plan and have the crookedest government on earth.”
This 1909 debate over charter reform and the 'commission plan' mirrors modern-day civic anxieties in Tacoma regarding government transparency and the influence of special interests. The struggle to prevent corporate capture of public governance remains a foundational theme in the city's political history.
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